[Dixielandjazz] improvising

[billsharp]

I have played trumpet for 50 years, and have thought many times about 
how to teach someone else how to improvise.   Here is what  I have come 
up with: Play a simple tune like Happy Birthday.   If you initially 
need the music, ok, but reach a point where you can play it without the 
music.  Then, start the song on a different note, and work your way 
through it until you can play it in the new key.  play  the same song 
in at least 4 keys.   Try Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Do this with lots of 
simple "kiddie" tunes.  Holiday tunes like Deck the Halls, folk songs 
like Down in the Valley, church tunes like  Lily of The Valley are 
excellent, .  Deck the Halls is good because it starts with a simple 
scale run.

As I said, play every tune in at least 4 different keys.   Learn your 
major and minor scales by memory.

All of this will develop your musical ear, while you try to  find the 
right notes.

When you are just listening to songs, and not practicing your trumpet, 
try to "la-la-la" your way through the tune, but do something tonally 
different, other than what the melody is doing,  You have to teach your 
brain to react differently before you can apply the action to your 
instrument.

When trying to learn from recordings, listen for 5-10 minutes, then 
practice for 5-10 minutes.   Continue 
listening/practicing/listening/practicing, etc, for as long as you can 
for a session, whether it be for 20 minutes total time, or 3 hours.

As a trumpet player, my solo playing progressed by leaps and bounds as 
soon as I started playing a chordal instrument (such as guitar, banjo, 
piano, ukelele, accordion).  then I started understanding and hearing 
internal notes and understanding the progressions.  Get even a ukelele, 
and while you are strumming chords, start making up melodies, and 
improvising  (la-la-la  . . . . .).

At home keep your instrument out of the case and ready to grab at a 
moment's notice.  You'll be more likely to practice on a regular basis 
that way.  Otherwise the addage applies:   out of sight, out of mind.

If you are a serious player, and follow these steps, you should improve 
greatly in 6 months.  If you are not serious, quit now and plan for a 
career as a listener only.  Serious musicians always need plenty of 
listeners. If you plan to be a listener, at least be serious about 
that, since the world seems to be lacking people that are serious about 
hardly anything.

Here's my rule of thumb - -you almost become an adequate musician when 
you can play 200 of the "Standards"  in 2 keys each, with no written 
music in front of you.

Buy yourself a single Hal Leonard Play-Along Book and see if it helps. 
(He probably has 30-40 different ones).
By yourself practice your guts out.

  Believe it or not, buying a good guitar instruction book, level 1 that 
has an instructional Cd included can be helpful because there are 
background accompaniments for so many of the simple tunes in trumpet 
range, and different keys.  Once again Hal Leonard has one called  
"Essential Elements for Guitar" by Will Schmid and Bob Morris that is 
very good. You can also use the book to begin your learning the chordal 
instrument guitar.  Spend your time doing improv "la-la-la-la-la" with 
the tunes in the book. This brings new meaning to the phrase "Gone to 
La-La Land"

Put my email address on your calendar for six months from now and let 
me know how you progressed.... Or maybe just tell me that you decided 
to sell the trumpet.

Regards, and Happy Times,
Bill "it's-all-about-la-la" Sharp